Speed transformer



P' 1929. G. KRELL ET AL 1,729,220

SPEED TRANSFORME R Filed March 19, 1928 "4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORSATTORN'EY Sept. 24, 1929. G. KRELL ET AL 1,729,220

SPEED TRANSFORMER Filed March 19, 1928 4 Sheefs-Sheet 2 INVENTORSflea/ye /f/"e// ATTORNEY Sept. 24, 1929.. cs. KRELL ET AL SPEEDTRANSFORMER Filed March 19, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 i A ZMLW/ INVENTORS'BY 60% M. Md/1078f ATTORN'EY S p 1929- G. KRELL ET AL 1,729,220

- SPEED TRANSFORMER Filed March 19, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORS.

" w, gear egg/w ATTOR'NEY Patented Sept. 24, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE GEORGE KRELL AND GUY III. MARTINET, OF SAPULPA, OKLAHOMA; SAIDMARTINEPT ASSIGNOR TO SAID KRELL SPEED TRANSFORMER Application filedMarch 19, 1828.

' or an electric motor, at variable forward and reverse speeds to adaptthe power to widely variant power and speed requirements incident to oilwell practice or for other service where variable speed changes aredesired.

In accomplishing this and other objects of the invention we haveprovided improved de tails of structure, the preferred forms of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a variable speed transformer constructedaccording to our invention shown associated with a hoisting drum thecover of the transformer being removed to illustrate the gearing.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional View of the apparatus, thehoisting drum being shown in elevation.

F ig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view through the gearing of thetransformer.

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view on the line 4:, Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the orbit gear and its carriermounted upon the variable speed shaft.

Fig. 6 is a similar view of the planetary and sun gears through whichpower is translated to the orbit gear.

Referring more in detail to the drawings by numerals of reference:

1 designates the transformer housing which includes a semi-cylindricalbase member 2 having supporting legs 3 adjacent its ends provided withfeet 4 by which the transformer may be secured to a foundation or otheranchoring support. Extending around the upper edge of the base member isan outwardly projecting flange 5 for seating a cover member 6. The covermember 6 issimilar in shape to but inverted on the base member and isprovided with a complementary flange 7 hav- Serial No. 262,968.

ing apertures 8 aligning with similar aper tures 8 in the base flange toreceive bolts 9 for securing the cover to the body member to enclose thegearing and retain a lubricant therefor, as hereinafter described. Thebase member 2 is provided with an integral partition 10 extendingtransversely thereof and cooperating with the outer end wall 11 of thehousing for supporting the transformer shafts and for dividing thehousing into a clutch compartment 12 and a planetary gear compartment13.

Journaled in a bearing 14 on the end wall 11 of the housing and in analigning bearing 15 in the partition 10 is a drive shaft 16, whichprojects from the housing through the bearing 14 and is provided with areduced end 17 carrying a sprocket wheel 18 fixed to the shaft by aspline 19 and whereby the shaft 16 may be operatively connected with aprime mover (not shown). The bearing 14 for supporting the power end ofthe shaft is preferably formed in the housing so that the lower half ofthe bearing is carried in the base member and the upper half in thecover portion to provide for easy removal of the shaft upon removal ofthe cover member.

The bearing 15 is of smaller diameter than the shaft and is also formedso that the lower half is in the partition and the upper half or capportion is formed in a bar 20 which extends along the top edge of thepartition and is secured at its ends to lugs 21 projecting inwardly fromthe walls of the housing in alignment with the top edge of thepartition, by bolts 22. The shaft is provided with a groove 23 which isreceived by the reduced bearing 15 with the sides of the groove engagingthe bearing for preventing longitudinal play of the shaft in thehousing.

The shaft 16 projects beyond the bearing 15 into the planetary gearcompartment 13 and carries at its end and spaced from the partition asun gear A, which is fixed to the shaft by a spline 24.

Rotatably mounted upon the shaft between the partition and the sun gearA and retained in position thereby is a planetary gear housing 25,comprising a disk 26 having a projecting hub 27 on its outer faceproviding an extended bearing on the shaft, having a recess 28 in itsinner face housing the sun gear A, and having a plurality of radialslots 29 extending through its rim portion 30 in alignment with the sungear A.

Rotatably mounted on pins 31 that are mounted on and extend from thedisk are planetary gear wheels B, which project into the slots and haveteeth 32 meshing with teeth 33 on the sun gear A.

A variable speed. or power take-off shaft 34 is rotatably mounted at oneend in a bear ing 35 located in alignment with the bearing 14 and in theopposite end wall of the housing in abutting alignment with the shaft16, the opposite end of the shaft being supported in a bearing 36carried upon a bracket 37 spaced from the housing to provide sufficientroom on the shaft for a reel or drum 38, although any form of powertake-off may be fixed to the shaft in place of the reel. The bracket 35is provided with a foot flange 39 similar to the feet 4 on thetransformer housing so that the bracket and the transformer housing maybe secured to a common support.

The inner end of the shaft 34: projects through the bearing 35 and intothe housing 1 and carries an orbit gear carrier 10 which is fixed to theshaft by a key 41. The orbit gear carrier comprises a disk of a somewhatlarger diameter than the planetary gear housing and is recessed on itsouter face, as at 42, to partially receive the planetary gear carrier orhousing and to provide an outwardly extending peripheral flange 44 towhich is secured a ring gear C by bolts 45. The ring gear C is mountedin the plane of the planetary gears and has inwardly projecting teeth 16which engage with the teeth on the planet ary gears to provide an orbitfor the planetation of the planetary gears.

With the structure thus far described it will be seen that when power isapplied to the sprocket and the shaft 16 is rotated to rotate the sungear, the sun gear will drive the planetary gear carrier on the shaft 16with the planetary traveling idly around inside the orbit gear (I andthat the movement of the power take-off shaft is zero.

Thus assuming that shaft 16 has a constant speed, that the sun gear Ahas twenty-four teeth, the planetary gears B twelve teeth and the orbitgear forty-eight teeth, the housing 21:12 revolution to one revolutionof shaft 16, and

H will obtain a speed of the rotation of gear C is Zero.

If, under these conditions, the planetary gear housing is held againstrotation so that the planetary gears cannot planetate, the sun gear Awill rotate the planetary gears B upon their axes and the planetarygears B will rotate the orbit gear C; consequently the power takeoifshaft will rotate at a speed lower than that of the drive shaft 16 and,using the same teeth ratios as before, the rotation of gear C on thepower take-off shaft makes of a revolution to one revolution of theshaft 16 and in a reverse direction. Therefore, by increasing the speedof the housing 25 to more than the speed of shaft 16, the orbit gear Cwill rotate forwardly and by decreasing the speed of the housing 25 toless than speed of shaft 16, the orbit gear will rotate reversely.

It will be further noted that by varying the speeds of the housing aboveand below of the speed of shaft 16 (maintaining the speed of 16constant), various forward and reverse speeds may be provided for thepower take-off shaft.

In accomplishing this result we employ counter shafts driven from theshaft 16 at various speeds selective by the engagement of clutches atthe will of the operator and by gearing the counter shafts to drive theplanetary gear housing at various speeds above and below A; the speed ofshaft 16.

In the device illustrated we have provided gearing to furnish high andlow forward speed and highand low reverse speed, as now described.

Rotatably mounted in the housing at opposite sides of the shaft 16 arecounter shafts 4t? and 48 respectively, the outer ends of the shaftsbeing mounted in bearings 49 and 50 in the outer end wall of the housingand the inner ends in bearings 51 and 52 in the partition, similarly tothe mounting of the shaft 16.

The shaft. 17 has reduced ends 53 and 5 1 for rotatably mounting a gearwheel L at its forward end and a gear wheel J at its rear end in meshwith aligning drive gear wheels K and I respectively, the gear wheels Kand I being keyed on the shaft 16 and spaced apart by a sleeve 55 on theshaft, as best shown in Fig. 8, so that rotation of the shaft 16 willdrive the gears L and J idly on the counter shaft. The counter shaftprojects past the partition and carries a gear E fixed thereto by a key56 and meshing with a gear D carried on the hub 27 of the planetary gearcarrier or housing 25 and fixed thereto by bolts 57 which pass throughthe gear and through the disk of the gear carrier.

The gears L and J are each provided with facing clutch faces 58 and 59so that either one may be selectively engaged by a clutch 6O slidablykeyed on the shaft between the gears by a spline 61. The clutch member60 comprises a cylindrical sleeve having clutch faces 62 and 63 at itsends complementary to the clutch faces 58 and 59 of the gears and isprovided with'a groove 64 for receiving a collar 65 having projectingpins 66 engaged,

by a clutch actuating yoke 67 so that the clutch may be slid intoengagement with either one of the gears to cause the selected gear todrive the counter shaft and the planetary gear housing through themeshing contact of the gear E with the gear 1) fixed on the housing 25.The number of teeth on the gear L differs from that on the gear M toprovide two different speeds for the housing and differential speeds ofthe power takeoff shaft.

Two additional speeds are likewise provided by the counter shaft 48mounted in the housing on the opposite side of shaft 16 which is alsoprovided with an idle gear M at the forward end meshing with the gear Kpreviously described and a gear P on the opposite end meshing with agear Gr keyed adjacent the gear I on the shaft. Either one of the gearsM or P may be connected with the counter shaft by a sliding clutchcollar 68 slidably keyed to the shaft and having clutch faces 69 and 70for engaging clutch faces 71 and 72 on the gears M and P, in the samemanner as the selection of the gears L and J on the opposite countershaft.

The counter shaft 48 also projects beyond the partition and carriesfixed thereto, on the projecting end, a gear F which meshes with thegear D on the planetary gear housing previously described.

The clutch 68 is likewise provided with a ring 73 and yoke 74 similar tothose of the clutch 60. The yokes 67 and 7 4 are each fixed to verticalrods 75 and 7 6 rotatably mounted in bosses 77 and 7 8 in thetransformer casing and extending downwardly through the casing and fixedto the lower ends of the rods are actuating levers 7 9 and 80 connectedto actuating rods 81 and 82 respectively, so that the rods may bereciprocated to move the yokes in an arc to slide the clutches intoengagement with the gears to be selected.

Thus four speeds for the power take-off shaft are provided for anyconstant speed of the shaft 16.

Thus by utilizing a set of planetary gearing and by controlling theplanetation of the planetary gears, we may obtain various speeds ineither forward or reverse direction for the power take-off shaft.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a speedtransformer, a housing hava partition therein spaced from an end wall ofthe housing, a drive shaft rotatably mounted in said end wall. andpartition, a driven shaft rotatably mounted in the end wall opposite tothe first named end wall, a sun gear fixed on the drive shaft, aplanetary gear carrier rotatably mounted on the drive shaft, planetarygears carried thereby and meshing with the sun gear, an orbit gear fixedon the driven shaft and meshing with the planetary gears, a countershaft rotatably mounted in said first named end wall and the partition,driven gears loosely mounted on the counter shaft, complementary gearsfixed on the drive shaft and meshing with the counter shaft gears, meansfor selectively connecting the counter shaft gears in driving relationwith the counter shaft, and means operably connecting the counter shaftwith the gear carrier to drive the said gear carrier.

2. In a speed transformer, a houslng having a partition between endwalls of the housing, a drive shaft rotatably mounted in an end wall andthe partition, a driven shaft rotatably mounted in the wall opposite thefirst named end wall, a sun gear fixed on the drive shaft, a planetarygear carrier rotatably mounted on the drive shaft, planetary gearscarried thereby and meshing with the sun gear, an orbit gear fixed onthe driven shaft and meshing with the planetary gears, a counter shaftrotatably mounted in said first named end wall and the partition,gearing for operating the counter shaft from the drive shaft, and meansoperably connecting the counter shaft with the gear carrier to rotatethe gear carrier.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

GEORGE KRELL. GUY M. MARTINET.

